At least 26 people were killed and 17 others wounded when gunmen opened fire on a group of tourists in Indian-controlled Kashmir on Tuesday, the worst assault in years targeting civilians in the restive region, which is claimed by both India and Pakistan.
India describes militancy in Kashmir as Pakistan-backed terrorism. Pakistan denies the allegation, and many Kashmiris consider the militants to be part of a home-grown freedom struggle.
Indian forces on Wednesday launched a manhunt for the assailants. Tens of thousands of police and soldiers fanned out across the region and erected additional checkpoints. They searched cars, used helicopters to search forested mountains and in some areas summoned former militants to police stations for questioning, reports said. Many shops and businesses in Kashmir closed to protest the killings.
Police called the assault a “terror attack” and blamed militants fighting against Indian rule. Indian Defense Minister Rajnath Singh vowed to “not only trace those who perpetrated the attack but also trace those who conspired to commit this nefarious act on our soil."
Kashmir Resistance, a previously unknown militant group, claimed responsibility for the attack on social media. The group said Indian authorities had settled over 85,000 “outsiders” in the region and claimed that those targeted on Tuesday were not “ordinary tourists” but “were linked to and affiliated with Indian security agencies.”
The group’s messages could not be independently verified.
Earlier this month, the local government told its legislature that 83,742 Indians were granted rights to buy land and property in Kashmir in the last two years.
The dead were mostly tourists
Officials said 24 of the people killed were Indian tourists. One was from Nepal, and another was a local tourist guide. At least 17 others were wounded.
Separately, soldiers killed two suspected militants in a gunfight after they tried to cross into the Indian side from Pakistan-controlled Kashmir in the northwestern Baramulla district along the heavily militarized Line of Control dividing the region, the Indian army said Wednesday in a statement. There was no independent confirmation of the deaths.
Pakistan extended condolences to the victims’ families.
“We are concerned at the loss of tourists’ lives,” Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement while wishing the wounded a speedy recovery.
Kashmir has seen tourism boom despite spate of attacks
Kashmir has seen a spate of deadly attacks on Hindus, including immigrant workers from Indian states, since New Delhi ended the region's semi-autonomy in 2019 and drastically curbed dissent, civil liberties and media freedoms.
New Delhi has vigorously pushed tourism, and the region has drawn millions of visitors to its Himalayan foothills. Indian officials have claimed that as a sign of normalcy returning, despite the presence of ubiquitous security checkpoints, armored vehicles and patrolling soldiers. Until Tuesday, tourists were not targeted.
Following the attack, panicked tourists started to leave Kashmir.
Monojit Debnath, from the Indian city of Kolkata, said Kashmir was beautiful, but his family did not feel secure anymore.
“We are tourists, and we should think about what safety we have here for us,” Debnath told the Press Trust of India news agency as he was leaving Srinagar, the region’s main city, with his family.
"It's heartbreaking to see the exodus of our guests from the valley after yesterday's tragic terror attack," Omar Abdullah, the region's top elected official, wrote on social media. "But at the same time, we totally understand why people would want to leave."
Indian home minister visits
On Wednesday, India’s powerful home minister, Amit Shah, attended a ceremony at a police command center in Srinagar, where the slain tourists were paid floral tributes. He also met families of several victims.
Shah vowed to “come down heavily on the perpetrators with the harshest consequences.”
Later, Shah visited the site of the killing at Baisaran meadow, some 5 kilometers (3 miles) from the resort town of Pahalgam.
The meadow in Pahalgam is a popular destination, surrounded by snow-capped mountains and dotted with pine forests. It is visited by hundreds of tourists every day.
Kashmir has been divided for decades
Nuclear-armed rivals India and Pakistan each administer a part of Kashmir, but both claim the territory in its entirety.
Militants in the Indian-controlled portion of Kashmir have been fighting New Delhi’s rule since 1989. Many Muslim Kashmiris support the rebels’ goal of uniting the territory, either under Pakistani rule or as an independent country.
India has used heavy-handed tactics to maintain its control over the region, including giving the armed forces widespread powers to arrest, torture and summarily execute suspects, human rights groups say.
In March 2000, at least 35 civilians were shot and killed in a southern village in Kashmir shortly before a visit to India by then-U.S. President Bill Clinton.
In 2019, months before New Delhi revoked the region's autonomy, a car bomb attack by militants in southern Pulwama district killed at least 40 paramilitary soldiers and wounded dozens more, bringing India and Pakistan close to war.
Violence has ebbed in the Kashmir Valley, the heart of anti-India rebellion. Fighting between government forces and rebels has largely shifted to remote areas of the Jammu region, including Rajouri, Poonch and Kathua, where Indian troops have faced deadly attacks.
___
Associated Press journalist Munir Ahmed in Islamabad contributed to this report.
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Credit: AP